New Paper Technology and Its Trend

I. Background to develop new papermaking technologies and packaging materials

In 2002, Asia’s total output of paper and board has reached more than 100 million tons. However, because of its large population (about 2.4 billion), the paper consumption per capita is only 41.8 kilograms, of which 242 kilograms in Japan, 33 kilograms in China, and 5.6 kilograms in India.

The annual growth rate of paper and board paper consumption reached 3.1%, especially in Asia and South America. The demand for pulp was on the downturn, and on the other hand, recycled paper was widely used worldwide. From a variety point of view, printing paper and packaging paper and board paper account for a relatively high percentage of paper consumption.
From a nationwide perspective, in 2003, paper and board production exceeded 1 million tons in Shandong, Zhejiang, Guangdong, Henan, Jiangsu, Hebei, Fujian, Hunan and Sichuan provinces; total paper and board production reached 34.02 million tons. It accounts for 83% of the country's total paper and board production.

In 2003, in 12 provinces (autonomous regions) and cities in the eastern part of China, paper and board production accounted for 72.5% of the total paperboard production in China, an increase of 0.5% over the previous year; the proportion of 9 provinces (districts) in the central region was 21.8%; The annual decrease rate was 0.2%; the proportion of the nine provinces (districts) and cities in the western region was 5.7%, which was 0.3% lower than the previous year. From the completion of the production of various paper and board products in the country and the changes in the layout of papermaking areas, the production concentration has become higher and higher. As the eastern part of China's three major paper industry clusters, it has become the main base for the production of China's paper industry.

The paper industry has become a pillar industry located in Guangdong, Zhejiang, Jiangsu, and Shandong Provinces, which are located in the Pearl River Delta Cluster, the Yangtze River Delta Cluster and the Bohai Rim Cluster in China's three major papermaking industry clusters. The papermaking industry has developed rapidly and its production capacity has expanded rapidly. Some provinces are not satisfied with this. If Guangdong plans to build a papermaking base, the production capacity will reach 10 million tons, and Guangdong will control one-third of the country's industries. In this regard, some experts are not worried that the continuous increase in production capacity will inevitably lead to intense competition for limited resources such as water and raw materials within the cluster. This should cause the industry to pay enough attention. Because all indications indicate that resources are in short supply to plug industrial clusters, the resource crisis has approached the paper industry cluster.

While industrial clusters play an important role in the scale and modernization of China's paper industry, a phenomenon that cannot be ignored also surfaced, which is a disadvantageous situation in which resources are in short supply. The resource crisis is pressing the paper industry cluster. In the past two years, due to the rapid growth of the paper industry and the limited raw material resources of wheat straw, the price of wheat straw in Shandong Province has almost doubled in 2003, reaching more than 600 yuan per ton. What caused the company to complain is that wheat straw is of poor quality, high moisture content, and has many impurities. Many enterprises in Shandong have to purchase wheat straw in the neighboring provinces of Jiangsu, Anhui, Henan and Hebei, and even purchase reeds in the northeast, which increases the cost. Affect the economic benefits of the industry.

China’s forest area accounts for only 3.9% of the world’s total. Forest reserves are less than 3% of the world’s total. The forest coverage rate is 13.92%. Per capita forest area and per capita reserves are lower than the world’s average, ranking 120th in the world respectively. With 121 people, the forest coverage rate was ranked 142. China imports a large amount of wood and its products every year to meet the needs of the market. However, relying on imported forest products to address the lack of total demand in China is not a long-term strategy. First, the country’s economic strength is still not strong, and it is difficult to produce more than 10 billion foreign exchange each year to import forest products; second, the international timber market is unpredictable and dependent on imports. It will make our country extremely passive.

Second, because some tree species are vulnerable to pests and diseases, as packaging materials are subject to processing conditions and process limitations, the cost of import trade is too high. Once again, a large amount of felling trees will undoubtedly have an adverse impact on the environment. At the same time, the rate of tree planting and afforestation is far from meeting the market demand for wood. Therefore, other green materials must be developed and replaced as soon as possible to replace papermaking materials and wood packaging materials. It is worth noting that for the development of the Chinese mainland, its forestry-paper integration policy is being implemented and will increase the forest coverage rate, which is currently only 16% (Europe is 36%), and supplies raw materials for pulp, and its non-wood (bamboo Grass and grass production in 2002 was 11 million tons, which is the highest in the world. Papermaking technology in this area also leads the world.

Second, new technology for papermaking

(a) Banana tree papermaking method

The National Chemical Laboratory of Japan has invented a method of making paper pulp from bagasse and bananas, which can replace papermaking with wood pulp. It is a technique for making high-strength paper. The papermaking method is to first put trees and other papermaking raw materials in sodium sulfide and sodium hydroxide, and then bleach them in bleach to produce a strong odor and a large amount of bleaching waste. The new papermaking process does not have to pass through the bleaching process, but it can also use recycling processes to treat wastes to prevent contamination. This papermaking process has low production costs and is most suitable for small-scale paper mills.

The key to this technology is to smooth the processing of banana fiber to cotton. The specific method is: peeling off the banana peel, dehydrating it with a press for making sucrose, and then fermenting it. The opener used for the production of fiber, such as cotton and hemp, can be used for the manufacture of banana fibers. The banana cloth made in this way feels like hemp and can be used to make food packaging bags.

(B) vinegar fiber papermaking method

The use of vinegar-based fiber as a raw material for papermaking eliminates the pulping process of typical plant fiber quality due to its extremely high cellulose purity. Japan's adding cellulose acetate to cellulose in the paper industry can increase the strength and durability of paper, and solve the problem of the decrease in the strength of paper fibers after the recycling of waste paper. The addition of bacteria fibers can produce high-quality special paper pulp. Paper, such as Ajjnomoto Co., Ltd. and Mitsubishi Electric Co., Ltd. developed special paper for currency production, which has good printing quality, water resistance, and high strength. High-grade writing paper added with bacteria fibers has good ink absorption uniformity and adhesion. After the mechanical homogenization of mycelial fiber, it is mixed with various incompatible organic and inorganic powders and fiber materials to manufacture diaphragms, non-woven fabrics and papers of different shapes and applications. It is very firm and fully utilizes nanometer-sized microfiber pairs. The object's extremely strong winding ability and tensile strength. In the manufacture of carbon fiber sheets that filter and adsorb toxic gases, the addition of Acetobacter cellulose increases the adsorption capacity of carbon fibers and reduces the leakage of fillers in the paper.

(iii) New materials to replace wood

1. Straw as the main material, combined with high-tech chemical raw materials such as PP, PVC and other auxiliary materials, are processed into various products with modern industrial equipment. Compared with traditional raw materials, the product has high waterproof, fireproof, anti-mite, acid-proof, surface rub-resistant, no chemical reaction, no radioactive, easy to clean, anti-aging, non-breakable, light weight, high strength, excellent environmental protection Features. The process uses crust low foaming, cross-linking or nanotechnology. In addition to the unique characteristics of the product pattern color, it can also be used after surface molding and internal painting. Because the physical properties of the raw materials themselves are not easy to oxidize, the color of the coating is not faded, aging-resistant, uniform in color, free from falling off, rich in color, fresh in beauty, and can satisfy the psychological needs of different grades of the consumer.

2. Grass + Plastic = Wood

A factory in Kansas, USA, made a new kind of wood using wheat stems, plastic crumbs, old newspapers, and a few woods. It has now replaced wood and started to be used to make utility poles. In the future, it will be used to make railway sleepers, Deck, railings and doors and windows. With this bio-synthetic wood, the number of felled trees can be reduced, and costs can also be reduced. This wood also has the advantage that it does not bend or crack like a general wood, and because it incorporates different colors of plastic, it differs in paint. This kind of wood can also be cut like ordinary wood and made into different shapes.

Different proportions of plant fibers and plastic can be made into different types of wood. If you use more fiber and less plastic, you can make a lighter variety, and the softness is also greater, the bearing capacity is 50% to 90% larger than some wood, and the service life is longer, and will not be due to UV light deteriorates; if you want to make strong wood for waterproof or outdoor use, use more plastic and use less fiber.

(D) Nanostructured surface paper

The Nanotechnology Research Institute of Huazhong Normal University (Wuhan) developed a new type of superhydrophobic and self-cleaning nanostructured surface paper. Nano-dispersion technology was used to divide the organic mother liquor into micro-scale “islets”. The inorganic nanoparticles were evenly dispersed in “small In the "island", a superhydrophobic, lotus-like structure is formed. According to relevant sources, this type of nanopaper has a layer of nano-structured film prepared on the surface of plain paper. In addition to the functions of plain paper, it also has super-hydrophobic, self-cleaning, moisture-proof, anti-aging, soft fiber, and water absorption. Low performance, low stretch rate, high printing surface strength and other excellent performance, and the process is simple, low cost, easy to industrialization. This product is the first in the country, and its increase cost is only about 10% of the cost of plain paper. Therefore, it has a broad market prospect.

(5) Paper cans (bottles) inject vitality into the packaging industry

1. Paper cans

Japan Toppan Printing Co., Ltd. has developed a new type of paper can packaging that maintains a high degree of tightness and sterilizing properties. Its food preservation capability is not lower than that of metal cans. Practice has proved that, at normal temperature, the food in the cans will not deteriorate in at least one year.

The main characteristics of this kind of paper cans are: lighter than iron cans and glass bottles; they can be filled at high temperatures; due to the edge protection of aluminum foil packaging, the penetrating power of oxygen is reduced, so the shelf life of the paper can be more than one year at room temperature; The material of the can body is made of paper, aluminum, polyethylene, polyester (PET), etc. to ensure the strength of the can body and can be directly circulated in the form of cans. Therefore, like the traditional round cans, it can be used by automatic vending machines. Recycling processing is convenient and can be burned without pollution. At present, this packaging paper can is used for the packaging of other beverages such as beer, fruit juice, etc., and has received favorable comments. The paper tank is designed to be concave on the side of the tank, which increases the strength of the tank and does not produce the phenomenon of the cupping.

At present, the annual consumption of aluminum cans in China is 6 to 7 billion, raw materials are imported in large amounts, and the price is expensive. Together with factors such as environmental pollution, the country no longer approves new aluminum can production lines. The ability to find new packaging containers that replace aluminum cans has become a constant concern in the industry. The birth of paper cans overcomes the shortcomings of aluminum cans and has broad prospects for development. According to experts, the construction of an aluminum can production line requires at least 17 million yuan, while the paper can production line requires only 2 million yuan; the minimum amount of aluminum cans is 20 million, and the economic volume of paper cans is more than 20,000.

2. Making paper bottles from waste paper

Kao Corporation of Japan has recently developed a new paper bottle that can be sealed with a metal bottle cap. Today's cartons cannot be used today. The company claims that with this new technology, a wide variety of shapes can be produced. This brand new paper bottle is made of three layers of material, the middle layer is pulp, and the bottom and the surface are covered by another texture of paper.

"There is no difference between the hardness of the waste paper bottle and the plastic bottle. The difference is only in the material. The paper bottle may completely replace the plastic bottle in the future." The cost of the waste paper bottle will not be higher than that of the plastic bottle, but the waste paper bottle will go through a period of time. Time will be formally introduced to the market.

(6) Paper Steel

Paper-steel is the latest achievement of contemporary high-tech. It is a special material made of ultrafine metal wire and fiber mixed in pulp and made by papermaking. It is also called metal fiber paper. It is as thin as paper, but its strength is comparable to that of steel. Paper and steel can be made into sheets, and can also be stamped and rolled into groove type, wave type and various special-shaped materials.

Once Paper Steel came out, it showed great vitality and broad prospects. It has been used abroad to make cars, trains, and the interior wall material of aircraft fuselage. Light-weight houses made of paper and steel can be loaded and transported and are suitable for temporary workshops, classrooms and camping houses. Even better, the United States has used paper and steel to form a paper bridge with a span of 15m and a deck width of about 3m. Even small tractors and 2.5t jeep can pass through, and they can be installed with it. Building a bridge of paper and steel materials can be completely carried away with a liberated car. Can also be tablecloths, curtains, sheets, etc., or stamping into bowls, pots, boxes, and instead of wood to do drawers, wardrobes, boxes, furniture. Where